The Ancient Lab of Dr Moreau
by Titan5
Summary: When the team investigates an Ancient lab, they meet some dangerous company.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** The Ancient Lab of Dr. Moreau

**Author:** Titan5

**Rating:** PG-13

**Warnings:** Some violence, blood and gore

**Summary:** The team investigates an Ancient lab, only to find they have dangerous company.

**Author Notes:** Written for Secret Santa at the Sheppard h/c community on LJ.

**Ancient Lab of Dr. Moreau **

**Part 1**

As the jumper burst through the event horizon, John immediately pulled up, gaining altitude steadily. "Okay, McKay, where are we going?" he asked, pulling up the HUD as he leveled off.

Rodney stared at his laptop screen for a moment before shifting his gaze toward the transparent screen. "Here," he said, pointing to a yellow blip. "That's right where the data base said the research facility should be and we're showing a low energy reading there. The ZedPM is probably almost depleted by now, but hopefully she's got enough juice left for us to download some information on their work."

John frowned. "Exactly what do we know about the research they were doing?"

Rodney sighed dramatically. "Honestly, colonel, if you aren't going to pay attention, why do you bother to come to the briefings?"

"Because Woolsey makes me," John said with a smirk. "Besides, I was listening. But you talked all around it and never really said what we do know about this facility. To be honest, I'm surprised Woolsey approved the mission based on that gobbledy gook report you rambled out." Ronon snorted from behind him.

Rodney looked indignant and huffed a little as his face reddened. "I did not ramble. Okay, maybe I gave more information than your pea brain could absorb in one sitting, but that's hardly my fault. Let me see if I can simplify it enough for you Neanderthals to understand."

Ronon growled, prompting Rodney to raise his hand. "Clarification. _Colonel _Neanderthal." After a brief nod from the Satedan, Rodney continued. John gave a quick over the shoulder glare to his unsupportive friend.

"Anyway as I was saying, the database was vague about the specifics, surprise, surprise, but it did mention research and development in the biological field. I'm hoping for either information about the Wraith that could lead us to a weakness. Or Woolsey insists something on crop enhancement would be useful."

"Crop enhancement, huh?" John said with a grin. "Fascinating."

"Oh shut up," Rodney snapped.

John continued to grin, but refrained from saying any more. He could feel Teyla's warning glare even if he couldn't see it. Fifteen minutes later, his eyebrows shot up. "Wow, look at that."

The research facility was huge, not the small outpost they had expected. The building was shaped like a giant V, with a rectangular front giving way to two wings. The back part of the wings were both covered with vines and plants where it looked as if the surrounding jungle was trying to swallow the structure. The closer they got to where the two wings merged, the thinner the covering of plants. The front of the building not only wasn't being taken over by forest, but there was actually a clearing of about forty feet, plenty of room to land the jumper.

"That is most odd," Teyla said.

"Not really," replied Rodney smugly.

"Failing shield?" John offered, grinning to himself when Rodney sighed in obvious irritation. He loved pushing the scientist's buttons, especially when Rodney was positive no one had the answer but him.

"Obviously," Rodney said. "It's doing exactly what Atlantis was doing when we first arrived. As the ZedPM fails, the shield falls back closer to the control room to save power. We'll need to land in that clearing because it's close to the main operation center."

John rolled his eyes. "Land in the clearing. Gee, why didn't I think of that?"

"Clearly that's just one more reason why I'm so indispensible," Rodney said smugly. Ronon snorted from behind them.

"Put your tray tables up and your seatbacks in the full upright position." John quipped as he brought the jumper down.

Ronon laughed. "Hey, I remember that. It's from that strange song by that guy with the big hair."

"Really?" Rodney groaned. "Weird Al?" The scientist swiveled around to look at Ronon. "And you commenting on someone having big hair is like . . . like the Genii accusing someone of being sneaky."

"Weird Al has some cool stuff and we're here, so grab your stuff." John was out of his chair and hooking up his P90 before Rodney seemed to process his words, making the colonel smile. The back hatch lowered a few minutes later to the sweltering heat and humidity of the jungle.

Rodney gasped about the same time the first bead of sweat tickled the side of John's face. "Just once couldn't the Ancients pick a planet with a nice, moderate climate?" the physicist complained as he wiped a hand across his forehead.

"The inside would have been a controlled temperature, as in Atlantis, would it not?" asked Teyla.

"Well yes, that's true, but it's not like they stayed inside every minute. We don't even know –"

"Rodney!" John snapped. "The quicker you get us in, the quicker you can get out of the heat," he said, pointing to the door of the structure.

Rodney shifted around to see where the colonel was pointing and seemed surprised that they had arrived at the front door. "Oh, right." In an instant he had completely switched gears and was working on getting the door open.

Ronon glanced at John, who grinned and shrugged his shoulders. They were used to Rodney being . . . well, Rodney.

"Got it." With a lot of groaning and creaking, the door began sliding open. It stopped before fully opening, but the team had no trouble getting through.

John went first, followed by Ronon. The lights flickered as he stepped inside, finally settling a few notches below bright, due to the low power levels no doubt. It was almost as warm inside, but not nearly as humid. John moved beyond the entrance, stepping into what appeared to be the main control room for the structure. Ronon moved up beside him.

"Clear so far."

John nodded. "Life signs?"

"No one but us." Rodney said from behind him. "Hey, it looks like the consoles are all intact. We might actually get something useful this time." And with that announcement he began to unpack his computer.

John watched him for a moment before shaking his head. "Fine, but keep your eyes open. Teyla, stay with Rodney while Ronon and I take a look around."

Teyla briefly arched one eyebrow as she made her _do I have to _face. "You would not be having me stay because I am a woman, would you?"

"No, I would not," John replied. "I simply think leaving you here instead of Ronon makes it more likely for Rodney to still be alive when I return."

Ronon snorted and Rodney glanced up from the computer screen. What?"

"I said stay here with Teyla," John said with a grin.

"Yes, yes, whatever," the scientist said with a wave of his hand.

Teyla smiled and let out a tiny sigh. "Your reasoning is sound. I will keep watch from here."

John nodded. "Let us know if anything exciting happens."

"Exciting, yes, got it. Hel-lo, what's this?" Rodney muttered as he worked, never looking up.

"And that is why he needs a keeper," John said, staring at his oblivious teammate.

"Sheppard, you coming?" Ronon had one foot in the room and one in the corridor, his gun up and ready, his brow furrowed in an impatient frown.

John waved his hand forward. "Right behind you, Chewie." When Ronon grunted his approval and stepped into the hall, John glanced back at Teyla. "I'll babysit the big guy."

oOo

"We're ba-ack," John chanted as he and Ronon returned. "Find anything yet?"

Teyla was sitting on the edge of an empty table, her back to the wall as she watched the door. She looked bored out of her mind. Rodney looked up from the console he was hunched over. "You're back already?"

"We've been gone an hour, Rodney. What have you found?"

Rodney sighed and flopped back in his chair. "Not much yet. I had some problems with the files because the power kept fluctuating. I've got it stabilized finally and we're just now really getting somewhere."

"What did you and Ronon find?" asked Teyla.

John took a drink from the water bottle he'd fished out of his pack and slowly screwed the lid back on. He frowned a little, exchanging a quick glance with Ronon. "We found a mess hall similar to Atlantis, only smaller. Looks like everyone left in a bit of a hurry. "

"What, like half-eaten meals on the tables?" asked Rodney, his eyes wide and his fingers still for the first time since they'd arrived.

"No, nothing like that. It's not like they panicked and ran, just like they . . . retreated very quickly."

"Food left in storage, cook pots on the counter, cabinet doors open," Ronon added.

John rubbed the back of his neck. His spidey senses were definitely tingling. Something was wrong here and they just hadn't found it yet. "Past the mess hall is mostly crew quarters and storage. It's mostly empty, but there's still some clothes and supplies and what's left looks . . . rifled through. Like they packed in a hurry and just grabbed what they could."

Rodney gave an audible gulp that would have been funny if the hairs on the back of John's neck weren't standing at attention. John looked at Rodney. "How long before you can access records or logs or something that might tell us what happened here?"

"That's actually what I was about to start on. Depending on how corrupted the files are . . ." Rodney stopped when the lights went out as they all glanced around the room. After a few seconds, the lights slowly came back on, slightly dimmer than before. The console the scientist had been working at made a droning whine as it powered back up.

"Great," Rodney muttered. "Better add some to that time estimate."

"You mean the one you never gave me?"

Rodney huffed. "Busy. I'll get it when I get it," he said and then began mumbling to himself as he hunched over the console.

John sighed and looked at Teyla to find her exchanging grins with Ronon. "Ronon and I will go check out the right wing, see if we can find anything useful. Keep your eyes open. This place is starting to give me the creeps."

Teyla nodded, the smile gone. "I am also uneasy. You and Ronon be careful."

John flashed her a lopsided grin. "Careful is my middle name." Ronon snorted loudly as Teyla rolled her eyes, but the tension broke, if only for a moment.

John and Ronon headed down the right corridor this time, silent as they strained their ears for any sound. Ronon came to the first room, leaning around to peer through the half open door. John joined him at the door at the big man's nod.

"Infirmary?" Ronon asked.

"Yeah, and it looks like they had a run of business before they left." The large room was a shambles. Beds were all askew, sheets crumpled and some stained . . . with blood? Spots and smears of similar dark stains were scattered across the floor amidst torn packaging for medical supplies. It reminded John of the Atlantis infirmary after a mission that didn't end well. As they walked around the room, he noted the open cabinets and half empty shelves. Ronon walked up behind him to look over his shoulder.

"Looks like the quarters on the other side."

John nodded. "Hasty exit, but with wounded." Running one hand through his hair, he turned around, studying the room. "What happened here?"

Ronon shrugged his shoulders. "Need to keep looking."

John nodded and rolled his shoulders to relieve a little tension. "Let's do it then."

The next few rooms were labs that also looked like someone had gone through, hurriedly grabbing what they considered most important. John tapped his radio. "Rodney, what have you got?"

"_Scrambled files, so far. I'm running a program I wrote for just this situation, since it happens so often. I should be able to get in . . . in eleven minutes."_

"Okay. We found the infirmary and it looks like they dealt with wounded before they left. The rest of this wing so far is labs. You might want to take a look before we leave."

"_Any sign of what they were working on?"_

Ronon chuckled and walked back to the hall. John let out a deep breath, knowing the man on the other end of the radio would not be happy. "Just some cages. And some of them were pretty big." One of them looked like it would easily hold an adult grizzly bear. Anything that big that got loose could certainly cause a lot of damage to anyone who got in its way. But that didn't explain the quick evacuation they were seeing signs of.

"_Cages? Oh for . . . my luck they were developing a new breed of cattle or chickens."_

"Not unless they were feeding Godzilla. Look, we're going to finish this wing and then head back. Hopefully you'll know something by the time we get there. Sheppard out."

John found Ronon trying to pry a large door open. "Having problems?" he asked as he joined the Satedan.

"This one is stuck."

Ronon had managed to open a large enough gap for them to stick their hands in. John put his below Ronon's and braced his feet. "Ready?"

"Ready," Ronon replied and they both began to push. The door inched forward for a moment and then shuddered before sliding the rest of the way open. Apparently they had broken through whatever had been hanging it up.

The room they stepped into was huge. John veered left while Ronon went right, both of them gaping at the structure. It was probably 80 feet wide and over 100 feet long, with a ceiling at around 30 feet high. There were work benches along one wall. What looked like a couple of huge garage doors were at the far end of the room.

"What is this place?" asked Ronon, his voice echoing slightly.

John was staring at the ceiling. He finally figured out he was looking at glass panels, no doubt there to allow for ambient light. The local flora had overgrown this part of the facility, blocking out the natural sunlight and leaving the room eerily dark. Shining the light from his P90 above him, he found what he was looking for. "It's a jumper bay."

Ronon's eyes follow the light upward to the same jumper bay doors they have in Atlantis. "You think they took them all when they left?"

"That's my guess."

"What do you think happened over there?"

John looked at the giant door on the left. The corner was crumpled, looking almost like it was folded back from the outside. "I have no idea," he said, moving toward it. They approached cautiously, the light spilling in through the opening providing them with a clearer view of the damage as they got closer. A hole that was almost as tall as John allowed them to step outside. It was wide enough to allow them easy passage without the danger of catching themselves on the jagged edges.

The jungle had grown right up to the building, which was no surprise since they were near the end of the wing. As John walked around, he noted the foliage close to the structure was thinner and looked as if it had recently been beaten down.

"This was done fairly recently," Ronon said from behind him. John turned to find the Satedan studying the edges of the damaged metal. "There's very little corrosion." His eyes scanned the forest. "In this climate, maybe a few weeks ago. Less than six months."

John let his gaze move away from the crumpled metal to look further down the wall. "Oh, crap," he muttered. Ronon came immediately to his side, whistling when he saw what had made John's heart stutter.

Deep scratches marred the side of the building for several yards in both directions. They were made by a variety of animals, as evidenced by the different sizes, patterns, and heights of the grooves. John's mouth went dry when he found the highest set nearly to the roof. "What . . . what do you think could have made that?"

Before Ronon could answer, a loud noise that sounded like a cross between a lion and an elephant seemed to come from all around them. And it was close. Both men reacted by lifting their weapons and scanning the forest, their shoulders almost touching.

"Sounds close," Ronon said quietly.

"Yeah," John breathed out. His heart was pounding in his chest as his mind conjured up images of a creature large enough to make those marks and strong enough to peel back metal like it was taffy. "I'm thinking we should go inside now."

Ronon chuckled. "I think this is where McKay would call you Captain Obvious."

"I keep telling you people it's _Colonel _Obvious." Another strange roar filled the forest, so loud it seemed to rattle the trees. "Now would be good."

Both men backed up to the untraditional doorway. There was a brief standoff as to who went first, but when John growled "Chewie", the big man relented and entered the building, growling back as he went. John's last view as he backed in was of rustling bushes.

"I think we need to hurry," John said as they turned to run for the door. The door at the opposite end of the room and now looked to be miles away.

Ronon's much longer legs got him there first. He turned around, already motioning for John to hurry, and then froze for a moment. The expression on his face gave John a split second warning before something crashed into him and his left leg erupted in bone-crushing pain above and below his knee. Before he could cry out, he was slammed into the floor, his forehead bouncing off the metal and knocking him senseless.

Pain, shouting, and growling filled his scrambled senses for several moments. When the pain in his leg suddenly intensified to the point he thought it was being ripped off, he snapped out of his stupor. His whole body jerked as whatever had hold of him tried to drag him away. Anger flared, fueling his effort to twist around and fight back. He had no intention of being on some animal's dinner menu.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of a giant lizard's jaws clamped around the middle of his leg. The animal was covered with grayish brown scales and had to be at least fifteen feet long. Blood and saliva sprayed from its mouth as it jerked its head back and growled. The resulting flash of agony grayed John's vision. Ronon was yelling at him but he couldn't seem to clear his head enough to understand.

Red light hit the ground beside them, startling him. Ronon was firing at the thing. Gun. He had a gun. The lizard picked then to jerk him to one side as it continued to drag him toward the opening to the jungle. John tried to ignore the thought that his leg was probably gnawed half off by now as he reached for the P90 just inches from his fingers. Anger and fear gave him the strength he needed to throw his upper body weight over just enough he could touch the gun.

"Sheppard, you've got it!"

John's hand locked around the tip of the weapon and he pulled it towards him. The jaws tightened their grip on his leg, his movement apparently making the lizard think his prey was escaping. The world disappeared in a fog until Ronon's shouts brought him around again. Somehow he'd managed to hang onto the gun. Setting his jaw, he shifted the P90 in his arms and bit his lip as he twisted around to fire at his captor.

The initial burst of bullets missed their mark, but were close enough and loud enough to startle the animal. It dropped John and took a step back before rushing forward to reclaim its prey. John had just enough time to roll over on his back and point the weapon in the right direction. This time the spray of bullets caught the huge lizard in the face and neck. John fired until it collapsed in a bloody heap on his legs.

He let his head fall back to the floor, the room swirling around him in a red fog. Pain consumed him and he closed his eyes, letting the darkness take him away.

oOo

Ronon had seen a lot in his years as a runner, most of it bad. Nothing compared to that moment of horror when he saw the huge scaled beast about to grab Sheppard and knew there wasn't a single thing he could do to stop it. He didn't even have time to shout a warning. He opened his mouth about the same time the big lizard grabbed Sheppard's leg, throwing him face down to the ground.

The next few minutes were a blur of frustration filled chaos. Ronon kept shouting at Sheppard, encouraging him to keep fighting or telling him to get out of the way. He was almost certain it would take multiple stuns to take the beast down and he didn't want to hit his teammate. Sheppard's struggles weren't getting him loose, but they were slowing the creature down and keeping its attention divided between them. Ronon had only managed to hit the monster once, a glancing shot on one leg, and it seemed to have no effect.

Ronon kept moving forward as the lizard tried to drag Sheppard off. He fired again, hitting the ground beside the creature. It jerked its head, yanking the pilot along and leaving a bloody trail. Ronon roared, realizing they needed to end this soon or Sheppard was going to bleed out. Then he saw his CO move. He was trying to reach his gun. Realizing that was probably the man's only chance, he yelled at him to keep going.

"Sheppard, you've got it!" he shouted when he saw the injured man's fingers curl around the barrel. The lizard seemed realize something was going on. It adjusted its mouth and looked like it clamped down even harder. Sheppard moaned and went almost limp, the gun sagging in his arms.

"Sheppard . . . John! Come on, wake up! Shoot it! John, quit lying around and shoot it!"

Then Sheppard was twisting around and firing, so Ronon tried again, clipping the animal's tail. Apparently startled, the lizard dropped his prey and stepped back. As Ronon started to fire, the colonel rolled to his back for a better aim and let loose a spray of bullets that almost took the creature's head off. When the echo of the automatic fire finally stopped, Ronon's ears were left ringing. The mutilated lizard lay in a pool of blood, one leg still twitching.

Shaking his head to clear it, Ronon turned and kneeled by Sheppard, gripping his arm. Sheppard jerked, his eyes flying open as he tried to bring the gun up. Ronon grabbed his wrist.

"It's okay, he's dead."

Sheppard stared at him a moment, then lifted his head to see for himself. With a sigh that morphed into a groan, the pilot eased his head back down. "Thanks," he breathed out.

Ronon grinned down at his friend. "Didn't do much. You killed him." Sheppard huffed and then opened his mouth as if to comment, only to slam his jaw shut with a moan. Ronon glanced back at Sheppard's leg, his BDU pants torn and bloody. He'd of smacked himself if he'd had time for wasting precious moments.

Ronon went for the field bandages that he knew were in Sheppard's vest. Assessing the injury, he found two rows of jagged holes where the teeth had been embedded in flesh, one about mid-thigh and one a few inches below the knee. He wrapped each separately, eliciting a moan when he pulled them tight. He had just finished tying the second when he heard Sheppard's low, raspy voice.

"Ronon."

He expected to find Sheppard looking at him, but instead found the man staring across the room. His hair seemed to stand on end as he slowly followed Sheppard's line of sight to the opening that led to the jungle. A huge greenish head on about four feet of neck was inside the door. The creature's tongue flicked in and out as its head moved around as if it was scanning the room.

"Big . . . ssssnake?" asked Sheppard in a whisper.

"Like in that movie," Ronon answered. The snake's giant head had stopped moving back and forth. It had stilled pointing in their direction and the former runner was certain that was a bad thing.

"Crap," Sheppard muttered, apparently agreeing with Ronon's analysis. "Uh, we . . . "

"Need to get out of here. Yeah, I got that. Can you walk?" They were both staring at the snake, who in turn seemed to be staring at them. It felt like a standoff in one of Sheppard's westerns.

"Not much choice, but I'll need help."

"Figured as much. We go on three." The tension built with this new rush of adrenalin. His heart raced and his muscles coiled in preparation for their flight to safety. Tightening his grip on his partner's arm, Ronon began. "One." The snake's head rose a bit and the tongue action quickened. It had their scent. "Two." The snake slid a few more feet of its body into the jumper bay as Ronon took a deep breath. He felt Sheppard tense up beside him. It was now or never, so he hissed, "Three," as he jumped up, jerking Sheppard to his feet.

There was a blur of movement from across the bay, but Ronon ignored it to run for the exit. They had a huge lead and the door was close, but Sheppard was barely able to keep upright as he was pulled along and that snake was moving fast. Fortunately it didn't move as quickly as the movie version. When they stepped through the door, he practically threw Sheppard to the floor so he could work on closing the door. The snake wasn't as close as he'd feared, but it was closing the distance fast. A burst of fire from Sheppard's P90 was suddenly loud in the narrow corridor, but it was slowing the huge animal's progress.

Luck was with them for once. As Sheppard's gun ran dry and went silent, the door slid into place. A split second later, they heard the snake crash into it. Ronon leaned against the wall, relief overwhelming him. He would never admit it, but there had been a moment when he thought they were snake food. Sheppard lay at his feet, his chest heaving. And then he started laughing.

Ronon watched him, afraid this was some sort of weird kind of shock. The colonel finally stopped with a groan as he reached down to squeeze his leg just above the blood-soaked bandage. "It's true. I . . . live . . . in a sss . . . science fiction . . . movie. Oh man, this hurts."

Ronon started to reply, but then realized the squawking he'd been ignoring was his radio. Both Teyla and McKay were frantically calling them. They had probably heard Sheppard firing his weapon.

"Teyla, it's Ronon. We were attacked by some really big animals and Sheppard is hurt. We're coming to you, so stay put."

"They okay?" Sheppard asked between breaths.

"_We are secure here,"_ said Teyla. _"I am coming to help with John."_

"They're fine," Ronon blurted before going back to the radio. "Teyla, I can get him there . . . wait. We passed the infirmary on the way here. Meet us-"

A loud crash against the door made them both jump. Ronon growled at the beast on the other side before continuing. "Meet us at the infirmary. Tell McKay if there's any way to secure the door to the jumper bay_, _it would be a really good idea." A loud roar, similar to the one they heard earlier, seemed to vibrate the walls.

"_I will hurry," _ Teyla said.

Sheppard already had his arm extended so Ronon snagged it and pulled him to his feet, sliding the injured man's arm across his shoulders. Taking on most of Sheppard's weight, The Satedan hurried away from the sound of claws scraping the opposite side of the door. He tried not to show how alarmed he was at the amount of blood in the floor where his teammate had been.

"Hang on, Sheppard," Ronon said as he rushed toward the Ancient infirmary, not sure if it would actually be of help.

They arrived at the same time as Teyla and she immediately began supporting Sheppard's other side. They helped him onto one of the clean beds as he moaned from the effort.

"What happened?" Teyla demanded as she began checking the bandages.

"Some kind of big lizard bit him. Made two wound tracks where the teeth got him and that thing had some big teeth." Ronon was not offended by her sharp voice. She had the most field medicine training of all of them and he knew Sheppard needed help now.

"I need to clean his wounds and then we will need fresh bandages. I have water and disinfectant from our pack, but we will need something clean to wrap the wounds with." She began pulling things from the pack she had set down. Ronon began going through cabinets.

"Did McKay find a way to lock that door?" asked Ronon, grabbing a package of bandages he thought would work.

Teyla had placed a folded cloth under the injured leg and was removing the bloody field bandages. "Rodney said he could not access the door controls due to a lack of power in that part of the complex. We need to return to the control center and he can close the blast door to the wing."

Ronon used one of his knives to cut away the ragged remains of Sheppard's pants and then watched while she irrigated the nasty looking wounds. He got a better view of the damage and immediately knew it was worse than he feared. Apparently all that head-jerking the creature had done had ripped Sheppard's leg up pretty good. Sheppard had passed out almost as soon as they started working on his leg and Ronon knew that was for the best.

Teyla saturated the wound with disinfectant as the colonel's injuries continued to bleed. "This isn't right," he said as worry began to gnaw at him. "He shouldn't still be bleeding this badly."

Teyla nodded as she tore open a package and poured a powder on the wounds. "I agree and that is why we are going to help. This should help the blood clot. Put pressure here," she said, directing his hand to the cloth she had placed over the damage to his lower leg. She did the same to the other wound.

A loud thumping and screeching from the other end of the hall grabbed their attention. Growls and a strange trilling noise seemed to fill the hallway.

"That's new," said Ronon. "Sounds almost like those things in that movie we watched a while ago. The one with the dinosaurs in that park."

"I hope it is not them. They were very intelligent and dangerous and I believe we already have enough to be concerned with." At the sound of another screech, followed by a loud growl, she began wrapping bandages around Sheppard's leg, pulling them tight.

Suddenly the noise from down the hall intensified. His gun up, Ronon hurried to the corridor expecting to see a mob of oversized snakes and lizards coming after them. Nothing had made it through yet, but it was clear from the constant sounds that several animals were fighting in an effort to get in and they were close to doing so. Teyla joined him, her gun up and ready.

"Are they coming?"

"No, but it won't be long. Is he ready to move?"

"Yes," she replied with a sigh. "He has lost much blood and needs fluids, but the IV kits are in the jumper."

"The blood," Ronon muttered, mentally kicking himself. "I've been wondering how we attracted so many animals so quickly. Between Sheppard and that lizard, there was a ton of blood." And the pool in the hall right by the door to the jumper bay was leading them inside the complex. "We gotta get out of here."

The two of them went back in the Ancient infirmary to find Sheppard conscious and struggling to sit up. Rushing to his side, they each slid a hand behind him to help. Once perched on the side of the bed, he tilted sideways, leaning into Ronon with a groan as he fisted his hand in the big man's shirt.

"Wha's goin' on? They in yet?" Lifting his head, Sheppard looked toward the door.

"Not yet," Ronon said. "But we need to move."

Sheppard nodded and leaned forward to slide off the bed. His teammates took his weight as he sagged between them for a moment. Then he seemed to gather his strength and began shuffling forward with their help.

"We need to go back to the control room," Teyla explained. "Rodney can close off this wing and hopefully keep the creatures out."

"I'm all . . . for keepin' . . . them out," Sheppard ground out.

There was a loud sound like stressed metal and suddenly the animal growls and calls were much louder and clearer. Without a word, the three picked up the pace. Ronon could swear he heard multiple footsteps behind them when Teyla hit her radio.

"Now, Rodney."

The sound of huge, heavy metal doors slamming shut behind them was one of the most beautiful sounds Ronon could ever remember hearing.

oOo

John did his best to keep up with the fast pace and support as much of his weight as possible. The adrenalin rush, courtesy of the brawling monsters trying to break the door down and eat them, was a definite help. John was pretty sure they all let out a huge sigh of relief when the blast doors closed behind them, but they didn't slow down until they reached the control room.

Rodney was standing by the door looking suitably panicked when Ronon and Teyla helped John perch on the edge of a table in a corner of the control room. He wanted to tell the scientist to stop gaping and close his mouth. John already knew he looked bad, with his pants in shreds and blood smeared everywhere.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "It's not as bad as it looks,"

"That's not all that comforting considering you look like you had your leg ripped off," Rodney replied.

"My leg is still firmly attached," John said. Then he remembered how it had felt when the megalizard had clamped down and tossed its head around. It was almost enough to make John toss his breakfast. "It _is _firmly attached, right?" he asked, turning to Teyla.

She smiled, but it was small and obviously not heartfelt. "Yes, but you lost a lot of blood and I fear you will need many stitches. There may be muscle damage as well."

"I don't think it's broken, although I'm not sure why not. I thought that thing was going to take my leg clean off." John couldn't help the tremor that shook him, but chose to attribute it to the fact that he was cold.

"It almost did," Ronon said, staring at John's leg. His expression was as serious as John had ever seen. Between that, the escalating pain, and the sounds beginning to creep down from the blast doors now under attack, John was done with this planet.

"Rodney, I know you aren't done poking around and downloading stuff yet, but I think it would be in everyone's best interest to get out of the land of the lost before we become some lizard's dinner."

Rodney sighed and shook his head. John had expected the man to agree since some very large animals were pounding on the door. "I would love to colonel, but they have other ideas," Rodney said, nodding his head once in the direction of the front windows.

"They?" Without thinking, John stood up. If his teammates hadn't still been hanging onto his arms, he would have been in the floor. Gasping from the rush of pain, he closed his eyes until he no longer felt like the room was spinning and the buzzing in his ears began to clear.

"John? Maybe we should sit him back down," Teyla said.

"No," John said. "I'm okay now."

Clutching his friends, the three of them headed toward the window. "Don't get too close to the glass. If they see you, they might attack and I have no idea how strong that glass is," advised Rodney. He seemed surprisingly calm for the trouble they were apparently in.

Once again there was no way to prepare for the sight of the jumper crawling with very large, very scary creatures. Two, no, three lizards like the one that had attacked John prowled around the ship, looking for a way in. John had had the opportunity to observe Komodo Dragons in the wild once and was immediately struck by the similarities in both looks and in the way they moved. Only these were quite a bit larger. He shivered.

A huge snake was coiled up on top of the jumper, at least the size of an anaconda, but bright green. They watched as a second larger snake with brown and tan markings slithered out of the surrounding jungle. A bird-like animal that looked like a cross between a pterodactyl and a crane with weird purple feathers on its wings suddenly landed on top of the jumper. As John was wondering if the thing had a death wish, it opened its mouth to three times the size John was expecting and bit the head off the snake just before it struck. A collective gasp went out as the snake's body jerked and convulsed itself right off the jumper. It barely hit the ground before the lizards were on it, ripping flesh from the animal between grunts and warning growls.

"That's just gross," muttered Rodney.

"I think we have a problem," said John. A new creature, looking like a cross between a velociraptor and a small _T. rex_ moved slowly out of the forest. It stopped, watching the feeding frenzy as it made a weird trilling sound. The lizards all looked up, saw the animal, and immediately began to run, all in different directions. Two more of the raptor/rex animals leaped out and a battle between the two species began. Oh yeah, they had big problems.

John's strength gave out, the adrenalin fuel long gone. Ronon and Teyla caught on quickly, easing him to the floor near the wall. He was shivering again as the cold really seemed to settle in.

"Did you see blankets anywhere?" Teyla asked. "I believe he is going into shock."

"Crews quarters," Ronon answered. "I'll get some." He was back a few minutes later with several. Spreading a couple out on the floor, they helped John shift over to lie on them and then covered him up with another.

"Thanks," John said softly. His leg burned and throbbed, with occasional spikes that had him grinding his teeth in an effort not to moan or whimper. They were trapped for the moment and he didn't want to make things worse for his team.

"How long til Atlantis checks on us?" asked Ronon, frowning as he crouched beside John.

Rodney sighed, running one hand through his hair as he began to pace. "I was very excited about this place, went on and on to Woolsey about the potential, but how I knew it would take a while to –"

"McKay! How long?" Ronon asked again, jumping to his feet and startling Rodney.

The scientist stopped in his tracks, his shoulders sagging. "I told them we'd be gone all day, might even spend the night."

Ronon growled, taking a step toward Rodney, who responded by taking a step back. "Chewie, back off," John ground out. He waited until his team calmed down and looked at him to continue. "Anytime we spend the night off world, it's protocol to . . . check in. You know that. When we don't, they'll call us and we can request backup. We just need to hang tight another six or seven hours."

"That's too long," said Ronon. "I can make it to the jumper and get the big medical kit. Teyla says you need an IV."

"No!" they all said in unison, with Rodney adding some rambling undertones about crazy barbarians.

"Absolutely not!" John said as firmly as he could. "No one is going out there and that is an order. I've lost some blood, but I think it's under control now. We just need to sit tight until help gets here. And I mean everyone, Ronon." When Ronon didn't answer, John pushed up on his elbows, staring hard at the Satedan. "If you go out there, I'm using the last ounce of strength I have to come after you."

Ronon stared at him as if trying to gauge the seriousness of his threat. "Try me," John growled low in his throat.

Rodney smacked himself in the forehead. "Oh my gosh, he's serious. I work with crazy people."

Ronon finally nodded. "Okay, we wait."

John relaxed back on his pallet, relieved he wouldn't have to make good on his threat. It was going to be one long, slow day.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** The Ancient Lab of Dr. Moreau

**Author:** Titan5

**Rating:** PG-13

**Warnings:** Some violence, blood and gore

**Summary:** The team investigates an Ancient lab, only to find they have dangerous company.

**Author Notes:** Written for Secret Santa at the Sheppard h/c community on LJ.

**Part 2**

"How's he doing?" asked Ronon as he squatted down beside Teyla. She continued to run a damp rag over John's sweaty face.

"Not well. Although it is not as bad as before, I believe he is still bleeding some." She glanced down at the bandages, blood now visible as it began to soak through the deeper layers. "His fever continues to rise. I know the chance of infection is high with animal bites, but I have never seen it overtake anyone so quickly."

"I may have an idea about that," said Rodney. He had been sitting across the room watching over his laptop as it downloaded from the Ancient console. Teyla had not realized he was listening. "The colonel kept calling those things giant komodo dragons. If they really are like them, then their saliva could be full of really dangerous bacteria that can cause a huge infection, even sepsis."

"Is it really possible they are the same, but for the size?" asked Teyla.

Rodney shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose they could have evolved twice. We've seen other creatures in this galaxy that were very similar to animals on our planet." Then he made a face like he'd eaten something sour. "Of course, there is also the Ancient's little habit of playing around with the lives and development of others. Maybe they seeded Earth with similar or even some of the same animals as Pegasus."

"What were they doing here?" asked Ronon.

Rodney glanced over at the information scrolling down the screen above the console. "Not entirely sure yet, as biology is not really my field. They were definitely experimenting on the animal life though. Sheppard was off a little. This place is more like the island of Dr. Moreau than the land of the lost."

Teyla looked at Ronon, who shrugged his shoulders and looked just as confused as she felt. Glancing back at Rodney, she asked, "Who?"

"Never mind; I'll explain later. Better yet, we'll have a team movie night when the colonel gets out of the infirmary." Rodney's expression sobered as he studied John, then he looked at his watch. "Two more hours, and that's just until they _might _check in with us. If only I hadn't gone on and on about us probably being here a long time."

"Rodney, you could not have known this would happen," said Teyla.

Banging and scraping suddenly began from the doors down the hall, the sounds muffled by the closed door of the control room. The animals had been trying to get in for hours. There had been a couple of silent breaks, but about the time the Lanteans began to hope the animals had given up, it would start again.

"They can't get in, right?" asked Ronon.

"No, no." Rodney suddenly looked worried. "I don't think they can. At least not in the next few hours."

"It is still disturbing to listen to," said Teyla.

Ronon stood and walked over to stand near the window. "There's only one of those lizard things out there right now. He's scavenging what's left from before."

The battle between the megalizards and T-raptors (as John had dubbed them) had ended with two dead lizards and one dead T-raptor. Then there had been a brawling feeding frenzy over the remains. As the big animals got their fill and left, a myriad of smaller ones had come out to claim their share. The whole clearing was now strewn with bones, bits of skin and flesh, and blood. The jumper was going to need a good cleaning when they got back.

Rodney moved next to Ronon near the window. "What's your point?"

"I can make it to the jumper."

"No," said Teyla, rising to join them. "John made it clear that we are to wait."

"Sheppard's getting worse. I can get the medical kit so you can help him."

"Wait," Rodney said. He paced around in a circle a few times until Ronon growled at him and then stopped and stared at them, his face pale. He took a deep breath, as if mustering his courage. "I should go."

They stared at the scientist, their mouths open. "What? Why?" asked Teyla, surprised by the suggestion. Rodney usually stepped up to whatever task was needed, but fighting off giant reptiles seemed way outside of his repertoire of talents.

"If one of us is going to try this suicide mission, it should be me. If I actually make it there alive, I can call Atlantis for help. What am I saying? I can back the jumper right up to the door and you guys can load Sheppard. Then we're out of here." He tilted his head back and jutted his chin out like he did when he was sure he was right and no one was changing his mind.

Ronon broke out into a wide grin and slapped Rodney on the shoulder. "We'll both go. I'll cover you while you get on board, then go help with Sheppard."

Teyla was already shaking her head. "No. Rodney, I expect Ronon to try crazy stunts like this, but you know better. John would not want you to risk yourself this way."

Rodney turned to face her, his expression as earnest as she had ever seen. "He would do this for any one of us."

There was nothing she could say to that because it was true. She glanced out the window. There was still only one lizard and it didn't seem as large as some of the others. And between the fever and the blood loss, John was not doing well at all. "Be careful and be quick. I can help provide cover fire from the door if needed."

"Let's do it," Ronon said.

oOo

Ronon slid silently out the door, his gun trained on the lone lizard nosing around the scattered remains. Two steps out the creature's attention shifted to him. When the animal made his run, the Satedan was ready, hitting the lizard twice with his blaster before killing him.

"Go," Ronon yelled, his eyes scanning the edge of the forest for any sign of waiting predators. He spared a quick glance at McKay when he ran past, noting the way the scientist had his arm extended as he told the remote to hurry up and open the hatch. The ramblings degenerated to cursing a moment later, drawing his attention.

"McKay, keep it down," he hissed. Then he realized the scientist was still outside the jumper and the back hatch wasn't moving.

"The hatch is jammed. Those stupid dinosaur wannabees must have crashed into the jumper while fighting." McKay began digging around frantically at the edge of the hatch.

"Get back inside," Ronon said, his eyes back on the jungle. It was hard to see into the deep shadows while standing out in full sunlight, but Ronon was almost certain one of the raptor-like creatures was watching them. Gripping his gun, he brought it up.

"McKay," he said just loud enough for the man to hear. "You need to go back _now._

In typical McKay fashion, the scientist wasn't paying attention. "I can do this. You just need to give me a minute so I can . . . no, no, no . . . "

Ronon tuned the ramblings out because he needed to focus his attention on the T-raptor he could now clearly see, watching them. Waiting. Waiting on what? The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he realized what was happening. Then everything broke loose at once.

He heard Teyla call out a warning and her P-90 began firing as he spun around, his gun up and firing at the T-raptor coming right for him. The animal jerked and stumbled as it took fire, but its forward momentum sent it barreling into Ronon, taking them both to the ground. He squirmed and pushed until he managed to detangle himself from the dead animal about the same time that P-90 fire started up again.

Rolling to his feet, Ronon began firing at the T-raptor that had been watching them, now barreling across the clearing. Fortunately this one had been farther away. The second time his blaster bathed the animal in red, it went down. Teyla quit firing. It lay still and silent for several seconds and then popped its head up and bellowed. Ronon shot it again, putting it down for good barely two feet away.

Ronon spun around, looking for any other signs of a threat. Seeing none, he checked on McKay. Rodney was still standing behind the jumper, his eyes so wide they looked like they might pop out and his mouth hanging open.

"McKay, get back to the building before something else tries to eat us."

The scientist continued to stand for a moment and then took a step forward. McKay suddenly stiffened and shook his head. "No, I can do this." Turning back to the jumper, he began frantically working on the hatch.

"McKay," Ronon growled under his breath. He glanced back at Teyla, standing in the door with her P-90 up and ready. Her expression was grim, but she gave him a small nod. Scanning the clearing, he froze when he saw one of Sheppard's lizards slinking out from between the trees. He slowly brought his gun up, never letting his eyes stray from his stalker.

"How much longer?"

"Seriously? Have you been taking lessons from the colonel or something? Because I'll tell you what I tell . . . oh!" McKay jumped back as the hatch began to open. He grinned and turned to Ronon. "I got it."

Relief flooded the Satedan. He opened his mouth to reply when a roar split the air. It was deep and loud in a way that seemed to shake the ground and it was close. The thing that bothered Ronon the most was the way the big lizard that had been studying them ran back into the forest. He looked at McKay who had obviously watching the same thing.

"What was that?"

Another roar echoed across the clearing and Ronon was sure he felt the ground tremble. "I don't know, but it's big and it's close. Get the jumper over here and we'll get Sheppard."

"On it," Rodney said as he disappeared into the jumper.

Ronon gave the clearing another look before racing to the building. Teyla was waiting on him. "You get John and I'll get Rodney's computer," she said as they hurried back inside.

By the time they returned to the door, Rodney had backed the jumper up to within a few yards of the entrance. Ronon carried Sheppard in and eased him down to the floor. "Close it up," he yelled as Teyla grabbed the medical kit and kneeled beside Sheppard.

"What the . . . "

At Rodney's distressed call, Ronon stepped forward to see what the problem was. Creatures of all shapes and sizes ran into the clearing, darting to the side when they encountered the building blocking their way. Several were headed straight for the jumper.

"Get us out of here," Ronon rumbled, his stomach clenching in anticipation. As the jumper rose, a huge beast, almost as tall as the trees came into the clearing, his mouth open wide as he roared. Ronon's jaw dropped. In all his travels, he'd never seen anything as magnificent as the giant predator before them.

The skin was dark green, like much of the foliage, and looked as tough as that of the creatures called alligators. The head was large with a square jaw full of dangerous looking teeth and small ears. The neck was unusually long and almost snake-like, as was the tail. It walked upright, grabbing what appeared to be a giant turkey with its powerful arm and tossing it into its mouth whole.

As the jumper rose over the trees, the monster paused to look up and bellow as if annoyed they were leaving. Ronon was just glad he was admiring the beast from the sky instead of fighting the thing on the ground.

"Thank God!" Rodney exclaimed. "I thought we'd never get out of there, at least not alive. Man, it sucks being at the bottom of the food chain. How's the colonel?"

Teyla was busy starting an IV and didn't seem to hear the question until she began taping the tubing in place. "He is holding on, but the sooner we are in Atlantis, the better. Ronon, could you get the oxygen?"

The Satedan did as requested, placing the mask over Sheppard's face as Rodney told Atlantis they would need a medical team. The pilot's face was slick with sweat, heat radiating off the man in waves. He gave Sheppard's shoulder a squeeze, his hand lingering in support of his friend.

"Be strong." He glanced up in time to see them enter the puddle that was the event horizon.

oOo

John was running from a bunch of giant komodo dragons, which eventually morphed into Wraith, which were then joined by velociraptors. Eventually there was a herd of all kinds of dinosaurs after him and a Wraith version of the sleazy computer guy Dennis from _Jurassic Park_ taunting him about getting eaten. He jerked awake at a touch to his hand.

"Sorry, colonel," a soft voice said. "I was just checking on you and you seemed to be dreaming."

John blinked a few times to clear his vision. He recognized Amy, one of their best nurses. "S'okay. Was dreamin'." He tried to kick the covers off, but was quickly and painfully reminded of his leg injury. He groaned out loud before having a chance to stifle it.

"Easy, colonel. You're leg was a bit of a mess, but Dr. Keller was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again."

John managed a small snort. "Funny. Water?"

He only managed a couple of sips before she took it away. His throat was a little sore and scratchy, letting him know he'd been on a ventilator, probably for surgery. He was hot and achy and he wasn't sure why.

"I know you probably feel pretty rough right now." He always suspected she could read minds. "The animal that bit you had a lot of nasty stuff in its saliva, including an anticoagulant and some bad strains of bacteria. You've been very sick the last couple of days, but your temperature is finally starting to come down."

She began running a damp cloth she'd brought with her across his face. He had to bite his lip to keep from moaning at the relief the cool rag elicited. When she had wiped the sweat from his face, she proceeded to run the wet cloth down his neck, making him shiver.

"You okay?" she asked.

There was a fire building in his leg, but he wasn't ready to deal with that yet. "Team okay?" He didn't remember their rescue so he wasn't sure how close they had cut it.

Amy smiled and took a step back. "See for yourself."

John turned his head enough to see Rodney and Teyla asleep in their chairs. Rodney's head was leaned back against the side table and Teyla had slumped over on his shoulder. It was kind of cute, making him wish he could get a photo. He wondered about the weird angle of their chairs until he realized Ronon was asleep in the bed next to them.

"Ronon?"

Amy patted his arm. "He's okay. He had some deep cuts on his shoulder and chest made by an animal's claws, needed quite a few stitches. As is typical for Ronon, he didn't even realize part of the blood was his until his post mission exam. He also started running a low grade fever. Dr. Keller wanted to keep a close eye on him, make sure the antibiotic works." She paused a moment and then grinned. "And that he didn't go rip his stitches out."

Well, that sounded about right. John had no idea how the Satedan had gotten injured, but the important thing was that everyone was all right, or would be. The rest could wait until tomorrow.

"Looks like you're about ready for a dose of your pain meds. You just relax and I'll be right back. I might even give you another sip of water if you behave," she teased with a wink. When she was gone, John turned his head to check on his team. Dark eyes glittered at him from the next bed. Ronon gave him a small nod and then closed his eyes. John felt some of the tension drain away, secure in the knowledge that his team really was okay.

oOo

Voices faded in and out for a while before John began to make sense of them. He knew he needed to wake up, but just couldn't seem to get there. Then he was looking at his team without remembering opening his eyes. They were staring at him.

"Are you in there?" asked Rodney, an open computer in his lap. Teyla was wrestling with Torren, trying to get him to sit still. Ronon was sitting up in bed, licking pudding from a spoon. Several empty pudding containers littered his tray.

"Did he leave any?" John asked, staring at Ronon's pile of empties. His voice was low and scratchy and he knew from experience it would take a few days to clear up.

Rodney glanced over his shoulder. "Not many."

Ronon gave him a big, toothy grin that somehow made John feel better. He could see bandages peeking out from the big guy's scrub top and his left shoulder looked heavily padded. "What happened?"

At a glare from Teyla, Rodney got up and tended to John, raising the head of the bed and giving the pilot a drink. He looked annoyed until John gave him a sincere thank you, at which point he almost looked embarrassed.

"What happened?" John repeated, scrubbing his hand across his face.

The three teammates looked at each other and then took turns relaying the events occurring after John had passed out. It left him frustrated that he hadn't been able to help them when he was needed. Their description of the huge beast that had appeared as they were leaving left him with a case of the cold shivers. If it had come a few minutes earlier, they would probably all be dead.

"Being at the bottom of the food chain really sucks. I don't know if I can ever eat meat again," said Rodney.

"I can," said Ronon without hesitation. "When's lunch?"

"Good question," Rodney said, perking up as he glanced down at his watch. "Only an hour."

John looked down at his aching leg, bandaged from mid-thigh to a point halfway to his ankle. He absently rubbed just above the bandages, remembering with startling clarity the feeling of his leg clamped in the big lizard's jaws. He couldn't help the small shudder that traveled through him.

"John, are you alright?" asked Teyla.

John plastered his best fake grin on his face. "Sure, I'm okay. Just remembering what it was like to almost be some lizard's Scooby snack."

Keller saved him from any further questioning by turning up just then. She checked his vitals, smiling when she consulted the thermometer. "Very good, colonel. Your temp is down another half a degree. Keep this up and I'll have to let you go in a few days."

"How long have we been here?" asked John.

"Three and a half days," said Rodney. "You've been pretty out of it."

John grimaced at the thought, prompting Keller to try to come to his rescue. "You were very sick from a raging bacterial infection. Those lizards apparently have an arsenal in their saliva, which included an anticoagulant by the way. If Teyla hadn't applied the coagulant powder, you could have bled out before you got back to Atlantis."

John made eye contact with Teyla, giving her a nod. "Thank you. It's a good thing for me at least one of us pays attention during those first aid drills."

Teyla smiled as she shifted Torren in her lap. "We all pay equal attention, as you are aware, but you are very welcome. I only wish I had cleaned the wound better so that your infection had not been so bad. We were truly worried."

"No," Keller said, shaking her head. "Those bites were deep. I'm talking scrape marks on the bone deep." They all cringed at that revelation. "Nothing outside of immediate surgical intervention and antibiotics could have made a big difference. As it is, it took two surgeries to clean out the dead tissue and make repairs."

"Two?" John asked. Wow, he really had been out of it.

"Two." She repeated. "Your blood pressure kept dropping on us the first time, so we gave you a day to stabilize and then went back in to finish the repairs. There was quite a bit of muscle damage. I'm happy to say that I believe everything is back where it's supposed to be and you should make a full recovery. Just don't be expecting to dance at anyone's wedding any time soon."

"Don't dance much anyway, doc, so not a problem." As washed out and achy as he felt, he'd be lucky to sit up on his own. For now, he was perfectly happy to lie there and be waited on.

"You do realize that's doctor speak for weeks of painful therapy in your future," said Rodney.

John stared at him for several second until the scientist began to squirm. "I know that, Rodney. I was just trying not to think about that yet. But thank you for bringing it to my attention."

Teyla and Jennifer glared while Ronon was close enough to thump Rodney in the back of the head. Torren giggled and pointed.

"Hey, that was completely unnecessary." Rodney looked around at the friends now staring at him and shrugged, sinking a little lower in his chair. "Although . . . maybe I deserved it." His confession was met with approving smiles by the women.

"It's all right, Rodney. We understand," said Jennifer.

Rodney nodded and then froze, narrowing his eyes. "Wait a minute. What do you mean by that?"

"I think John needs to rest," said Teyla.

John realized he'd let his eyes close and immediately forced them open. His body felt like it was made of lead, including his eyelids, but he wasn't ready to go back to sleep just yet. He shifted in an effort to get more comfortable, but only succeeded in fanning the smoldering fire in his leg. His breath hitched as he clamped his jaw closed, focusing on a point at the end of the bed while he rode out the wave of pain.

When the pain finally faded back to manageable, he slumped back against the pillows, panting lightly. Someone put a straw to his lips and he pulled several mouthfuls of water. Opening his eyes as they pulled the straw away, he saw Keller set the cup down.

"Visiting hours are over for a little while so my patients can rest," said Jennifer, lowering John's bed as she spoke.

"I just woke up," John protested.

"I'm not tired," said Ronon. "But I could eat."

"Is there ever a time when you couldn't eat?" asked Rodney.

John snorted. "Pot . . . kettle."

"I'm pretty sure no one asked your opinion," said Rodney, pointing his finger in John's direction.

Keller sighed long and hard, glancing down at Teyla. "I think Torren might be more mature than these three some days. How do you stand it?"

Teyla just shrugged. "They can be trying at times." Then she smiled. "But they are my team and I trust them with my life." Standing, she shifted Torren over her right hip. "I promised Torren we could go for a walk before lunch, so I must go. I will return this afternoon to check on you both. Please do not trouble Jennifer." After giving them each a warning glare, she prompted her son to wave and left.

Rodney seemed to take his cue from her and stood up, stretching. "Guess I should get going as well. Radek found something in the data he brought back he wanted me to see. And they are supposed to be having real fried chicken for lunch. Don't want to be late."

"Thought you weren't eating meat," John teased.

"No, I said I wasn't sure. After careful consideration, I've decided I can."

"Big surprise," Ronon chuffed.

John frowned against the pain building in his leg until he noticed Keller studying him. He smoothed out his features and turned to Rodney. "Any idea what they were doing on that planet?"

Rodney closed his laptop and picked it up. "From what we've looked at so far, it appears they were studying the indigenous life forms to see if there was anything there they could use. Someone got overzealous and began selectively breeding some species as well as doing a little gene mixing. Some of their . . . projects got so aggressive and so big that they scrapped the whole thing. We're still looking for the logs of that last day or two."

John watched Keller inject his IV with his pain meds. A minute or so later he felt his body relax as the pain melted away. Maybe a small nap wouldn't be so bad. Rodney and Keller were both grinning at him as the world faded away.

oOo

It took several minutes and Teyla's help, but John finally got his leg propped in a chair so that it didn't hurt. The leg was heavily bandaged, as much for support and protection as to cover the wounds, resulting in the knee being locked into a slightly flexed position. That resulted in it being hard for John to get in a position that didn't stress or pull on his numerous stitches.

John slumped down in his chair, exhausted from the effort it took to get to the mess hall and get settled. "Thanks, Teyla," he breathed out, glancing to be sure the crutches leaning against a chair at the end of the table were still secure.

"You are welcome," she replied, her brow furrowing into a frown. "Perhaps we should have brought your dinner to your room."

"No, gosh, no. I needed to get out of there for a while. And the doc said I could do this."

Clattering announced Rodney's arrival when he dropped as much as set a loaded tray in front of John, as well as another at the next chair. "I kept changing my mind about what you'd want, so I just got a bunch of stuff, figuring you're bound to like something. Bon appétit!" Plopping into his chair, he grabbed his fork and dug in.

John stared at the tray, piled with layers of food. "What if I don't like my food touching like this? The potatoes have beans as well as that turnip thing from the Gadecions in it."

Rodney's fork stopped halfway to his mouth and he sputtered a moment. John could almost see the wheels turning as the scientist tried to remember John's eating habits. "What? I just thought . . . really?"

Ronon snickered, almost making John laugh. "I'm career military. I've eaten dog stew and skewered worms. Do you really think I care if my food runs together? I'm happy if it's not rotten but it's stopped moving."

Rodney dropped his fork and made a face like he was gagging. "Thanks for that, by the way. Perhaps you'd like to discuss all the other revolting things you've seen and ruin the rest of our meal."

"Nope," John said with a huge grin. "I think my work is done. Thanks for the tray."

Rodney leaned over and grabbed the plate with chocolate cake on it. "You're welcome."

"Hey!" John glared at Rodney, but the man ignored him. He didn't actually care about the cake, but no reason to let Rodney know. For several minutes, they ate in companionable silence.

"Colonel Sheppard?"

John looked up to see a tall, thin man with light brown, receding hair. "Colonel, I hate to disturb your dinner-"

"Then don't," said Ronon right before shoving a huge spoonful of potatoes in his mouth.

Their visitor pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at Ronon a few seconds before turning back to John. It was then that the pilot placed the man. "As I was saying, I was talking to Mr. Woolsey and –"

"No," John said, cutting him off. Then he scooped up a bite of meatloaf and went back to eating.

"Mr. Woolsey said . . . What? No, wait, you don't even know what I was going to ask."

John swallowed. "Dr. Mergenstein from Biology, right? Specialist in paleozoology?"

The man's eyes widened. "I must admit, I'm a little surprised you know who I am, colonel."

John nodded, poking at his beans with his fork before laying the utensil down to look at the scientist. "Yeah, we military types tend to be oblivious to anything that doesn't shoot or blow things up." Rodney snorted so hard he choked until John wondered if they might have to try the Heimlich maneuver on him. "Except I'm not. And the answer is still no. We are not going back to the planet time forgot."

Rodney slammed his empty water glass down, apparently recovered from his choking fit. "No, no, we decided on the planet of Dr. Moreau."

"Too long," John replied.

Dr. Mergenstein was getting red in the face and a vein was beginning to pop near his right temple. "Colonel Sheppard, I have no idea what you and your . . . team are talking about. We simply want to visit P3X-443 to conduct some research."

John stared at the man a moment, his face expressionless. Then he glanced at Rodney. "I wonder if that's what the Ancient version of Dr. Moreau proposed – just a little research. Right up until they started creating monsters."

Rodney shook his head, his eyes flashing like they did before Mt. McKay erupted. "You moron, that's the planet we've been talking about. I assume you've seen the report or you wouldn't be so anxious to go. You did read the part about giant lizards and snakes and dinosaur-like creatures that try to eat you, right?"

Mergenstein put his hands on his hips. "Dr. McKay, you can't talk to me that way. I'm outstanding in my field, one of the foremost experts."

"You're out standing in your field, all right," Rodney said. "Way out in left field if you ask me." Ronon snickered and Teyla arched one eyebrow at him until he stopped.

Mergenstein carried on, not willing to let the request go. "Look, colonel, I'm aware one of the lizards bit you and that it might be a few days before you're back on duty, but –"

John barked out a short laugh. "A few days? I wish."

Ronon and Teyla's eyes widened and Rodney slapped his hand across his forehead. "Oh my God, you really are that stupid. The colonel spent several hours in surgery to repair the damage from that lizard bite. Twice. We're talking over a hundred stitches. He'll be lucky if he's on active duty in a few weeks, not a few days."

John winced, although he wasn't sure if it was from being reminded about his injury or from the fact that several people at surrounding tables were starting to stare. He needed to wrap this up. "Point is doctor, that the planet is incredibly dangerous. A lot more dangerous than what we might gain by going back. So my original answer still stands. No."

Dr. Mergenstein huffed and snorted a few times before stomping off. "Well, I never," he mumbled as he left.

"You have now," John said softly. After a moment of silence, he glanced up to find his team watching him. They stared at each other for about two seconds before bursting out in laughter. It didn't matter what he was up against, freakishly big lizards or freakishly annoying scientists, his team always had his back.

THE END


End file.
